Peter WalshA council clerk, who has announced she is to step down after spending more than two decades serving the people of Costessey, said seeing off plans for a controversial incinerator in the area had been one of her biggest highlights.Peter Walsh

A council clerk, who has announced she is to step down after spending more than two decades serving the people of Costessey, said seeing off plans for a controversial incinerator in the area had been one of her biggest highlights.

Rachel Jackson, who turns 60 in May, will step down as clerk of Costessey Parish Council in September this year after more than 20 years in the role.

The mother-of-two, who lives with her husband Alan in Sprowston, said she had thoroughly enjoyed her time on the parish council, but now wanted to concentrate on her own family and pursue other interests.

She said: "The job has grown beyond all recognition and it needs someone younger and more vibrant and energetic. By the time I leave, I will have been here 22 years; I shall miss it. I've had a really good council and have appreciated their support.

"I've had some sort of employment since I was 11. I've always done something and now I would just like to do the things I like. I would like to do more gardening and join the Women's Institute. Both my husband and I like to travel, so hopefully that will continue to be part of our lives."

In her time on the parish council, Mrs Jackson, who was once a parish clerk for Old Catton, has been involved in a number of issues that have provoked heated debate in the community, but none more so than controversial plans for a waste incinerator.

Plans by Waste Recycling Group to build an incinerator on the Longwater business park had outraged families in the area.

But people living in Costessey rallied against the plans and the Evening News launched its No To Norfolk Incinerators campaign, and the plans were finally thrown out by the county council in 2007.

� For information about the role of parish clerk, or for an application pack, contact Costessey Parish Council on 01603 742958 or email info@costesseypc.org.

�Have you got a story for the Evening News? Call reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 772436 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk.